1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to awning device for bee hives.
2. Prior Art
Beekeepers have in the past used covering devices for the entrance of bee hives for a variety of purposes as U.S. Pat. No. 1,387,734 to Nitsch and Meier, U.S. Pat. No. 1,470,112 to Cottam, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,011 to Williams illustrate. All of these applications were complex and presumably expensive to manufacture. While their utility may have been beneficial none were designed solely with the protection of the front of the hive entrance from inclement weather. Presently a great number of bee hive are unprotected from the effects of wind, rain, and snow for the lack of an inexpensive awning device.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive awning device that is simple of manufacture and easy to install.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an awning device of a proportion to encompass a greater portion of the front entrance so that during early spring build up of the bee population when bees tend to “beard up” or cover the entire front outside portion of a hive for lack of space inside, they may be protected from sudden spring showers.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an awning device that will protect from snow blocking the entrance of the bee hive during winter.